Man, 21, drowns in Snohomish River

SNOHOMISH — Searchers have recovered the body of a 21-year-old man who drowned in a boating mishap on the Snohomish River.

Members of a dive team from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office recovered the body early Sunday afternoon. The victim’s body was found in about 13 feet of water upstream from Douglas Bar.

The man, from Snohomish, had been among a group of people who were having a drinking party on a sand bar at Thomas Eddy, upstream of Snohomish. A canoe used to ferry people to the location capsized about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, spilling three people into a fast-moving section of the river, Snohomish County sheriff’s Lt. Steve Dittoe said.

A witness reported seeing the man drown. An immediate search of the area by the sheriff’s marine patrol and dive team, search-and-rescue, the fire department and city police did not find the man. The effort resumed after daylight Sunday morning.

“The victim was reportedly intoxicated at the time of the accident. Witnesses told deputies that no one in the canoe had been wearing a floatation device,” Dittoe said in a press release.

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